The High Schools : Baltau Played ‘Unconsciously’ at the End

Wide receiver Jason Stanley ran to the Canyon huddle midway through the fourth quarter of Friday’s game against Bakersfield and relayed a play to Cowboy quarterback Rod Baltau.

Then he repeated himself.

“He didn’t have a clue what was happening,” Stanley said of Baltau. “I had to repeat the plays twice every time.”

Baltau, who did not practice last week because of injury and illness--a hip pointer and the flu--also suffered a concussion midway through the second half.

It is not certain how or when he incurred that injury, but Baltau’s performance after it happened--he led the Cowboys on a 22-play, 85-yard drive at the end of the fourth quarter--was “sensational,” in the words of Coach Harry Welch.

The only blemish on Baltau’s heroic performance was the final score: Bakersfield 28, Canyon 20.

“He didn’t want to come out,” Stanley said. “He was going to finish the game no matter what. He was playing on guts.”

Trailing by eight points with less than four minutes remaining, Canyon gained possession at its own eight-yard line. Baltau, however, was oblivious to enormousness of the task at hand.

“I wasn’t thinking at all,” he said. “I didn’t even realize we were that deep in our own territory.”

Baltau then completed 5 passes for 59 yards, including 4 in a row, to take Canyon to the Bakersfield 11.

“He was still putting the ball right there, even when he was pretty woozy,” Stanley said. “We just couldn’t stick the ball in.”

Baltau appeared to score when he eluded three players and ran in from the seven, but the play was nullified by a holding penalty.

Baltau followed with a pass that hit Clint Beauer in the hands and fell incomplete with no time remaining.

“How could anyone have given a greater effort anywhere in high school football than what Rod Baltau did?” Welch asked. Baltau spent two hours at Henry Mayo Memorial Hospital after the game and will see his family’s private physician Monday, said Ralph Baltau, Rod’s father. His availability for Friday’s game against Thousand Oaks is uncertain.

Add Canyon: The loss to Bakersfield, coupled with an opening-night loss to Hart, leaves the Cowboys 0-2 for only the second time in Welch’s seven years at Canyon. Although many of his players say the team has played poorly, Welch blames himself.

“The biggest problem is I have to do a better job coaching,” Welch said. “Discipline and execution come from the coaches, not the players.”

Baltau and Stanley, however, believe that many players are not performing to the best of their abilities.

“We have a lot more talent than an average team; we’re just waiting to play like it,” Baltau said. “Right now, we’ve only got one, two or three people playing on offense and only one, two or three playing on defense. We need the whole 11 to play.”

Last add Canyon: Lost amid Canyon’s loss was the difficulty Bakersfield had moving the ball. The Drillers crossed midfield just three times, on plays of 55 and 57 yards for their first two touchdowns and when a Baltau pass was picked off at the Cowboy 40, setting up another score.

Bakersfield’s other touchdown came on a fumble recovery.

Canyon outgained Bakersfield, 428 yards to 186, and had 22 first downs to the Drillers’ 5. Take away Bakersfield’s two long scoring runs and the Drillers managed just 74 yards in total offense.

But beating Bakersfield in every category but total points is little consolation.

“We’re down,” Stanley said. “Not because we’re 0-2, but because we aren’t playing as well as we should be. A lot of individuals are playing good, but we’re just not getting a team effort.”

Strengthened program: Gene Uebelhardt, Royal’s first-year coach, saw only two differences between last week’s loss to Chaminade and Friday’s 17-13 win over Agoura--the final score and his team’s turnover total.

“Everything was pretty much the same as last week,” said Uebelhardt, whose team had no giveaways against the Chargers.

But the biggest turnover might be the fortunes of Royal, which won one game last season and has not qualified for the playoffs since 1983.

The victory over Agoura team is Uebelhardt’s first as Royal coach.

Add Royal: Uebelhardt credits assistant Chris Alteri for strengthening the Highlanders’ hands . . . and feet, and legs and all of the other muscles.

“I think sometimes people get too enthralled with size and not the athletic ability,” Uebelhardt said. “We’re big and that’s very good, but whether we’re big next year or not, thanks to Chris, we’ll be strong.”

Uebelhardt says the average Royal player has improved his strength 35 to 40% since Alteri began his program last spring.

Tight end Tom Pitstick, for example, gained 45 pounds in a month and scored the highest rating on the Highlanders’ decathlon test.

“We have a big football team and they’re fast,” Uebelhardt said. “As the year goes on, we’ll get the experience it takes to turn the program around.”